Coach Liz Mills

TOP PERFORMERS — WINDOW 4 📊🌍

Not simply the highest scorers or the flashiest players.

After watching every game in Window 4, I went deeper into the numbers — looking at efficiency, creation, rebounding impact, defensive disruption, possession control and how each player influenced games.

These are the five performers who stood out when what I saw on the court matched what the advanced metrics revealed.

🇨🇲 Yves Missi — interior efficiency, dominant rebounding and elite rim protection.

🇸🇸 Carlik Jones — controlled South Sudan’s offense, created for others and protected possessions through a perfect 3–0 window.

🇦🇴 Selton Miguel — consistently generated scoring pressure through rim attacks while taking exceptional care of the ball.

🇳🇬 Caleb Agada — contributed across scoring, creation, rebounding and defensive activity, showing impact well beyond his points.

🇨🇻 Ivan Almeida — Cape Verde went winless, but his combination of scoring volume, defensive rebounding and disruption was impossible to overlook.

These aren't selections based purely on points or traditional boxscore numbers.

Film + context + advanced metrics.

Swipe ➡️ to see why these five stood out.

Who stood out to you in Window 4? 👀🏀

SIX GAMES. SIX STORIES. 📊🏀

Day 4 was full of results that the traditional boxscore cannot explain on its own.

South Sudan had the lower eFG% and TS%—but recovered 39.1% of its available offensive rebounds and produced a combined +27 advantage in second-chance and fast-break points.

Angola generated 32 more field-goal attempts through a 42.0% offensive rebound rate and 16.2% steal rate.

Mali and Senegal both committed 21 turnovers—but Senegal held a +17.7 percentage-point eFG% advantage and won points from turnovers 32–16.

Nigeria made 15 threes at 42.9%, led by Caleb Agada’s African Qualifiers-record eight.

Swipe ➡️ for one defining storyline from every game—and the advanced numbers behind what actually happened.

Which Day 4 result taught us the most?

Three games. Three stories beneath the boxscore. 📊🏀

Egypt had the higher eFG%. Côte d’Ivoire still won.

Mali scored 101 points without any player taking more than nine shots.

Angola created the chaos. Senegal controlled the interior.

The final scores tell us who won. The advanced metrics reveal how—and why.

Swipe ➡️ for the evidence behind Day 3.

Which storyline surprised you most?

Three games. Three stories hidden beneath the boxscore. 📊🏀

South Sudan and Nigeria made the same number of field goals—but one needed 12 fewer attempts.

Cape Verde committed only three more turnovers than Guinea—but the punishment gap was 17 points.

Cameroon didn’t merely outrebound Tunisia. They claimed 63.1% of every available rebound.

The final scores tell us who won. The advanced metrics help explain how—and why.

Swipe ➡️ for my Day 2 analysis from Round 2, Window 4 of the FIBA World Cup African Qualifiers.

Which Day 2 storyline stood out most to you?

SIX GAMES. SIX STORIES. 📊🏀

Day 1 was full of results that the traditional box score cannot explain on its own.

Nigeria recovered 47.7% of its available offensive rebounds—and still lost by 16.

Senegal recorded a 12.2% block rate—but Egypt kept possessions alive with a 43.4% offensive rebound rate.

Cape Verde won the glass, the paint and the field-goal efficiency battle—but Tunisia found a different route to victory.

Angola forced turnovers on almost three in every ten DRC possessions.

Swipe ➡️ for one defining storyline from every game—and the advanced numbers behind what actually happened.

Which Day 1 result taught us the most?

WINDOW 4 X-FACTORS 👀🌍

Round 2 starts today — and sometimes it’s not the headline names that swing a window.

These are five players I’ll be watching closely because of how their skill sets could change what their teams are able to do:

🇨🇲 Yves Missi — raising Cameroon’s ceiling
🇸🇳 Jean-Jacques Boissy — providing a second creator
🇨🇮 Nisre Zouzoua — punishing defensive attention elsewhere
🇸🇸 Nuni Omot — giving South Sudan another half-court solution
🇬🇳 Ousmane Drame — creating space for Guinea’s offense

Five different roles. Five potential X-factors. Three huge games ahead for each player.

Swipe ➡️ for why each could matter in Window 4.

Who’s your X-factor for this window? 🏀

Group F is loaded. 👀🌍

Senegal enter Round 2 with the competition’s best defense. Côte d’Ivoire had Round 1’s most efficient offense. Angola sit fourth despite a +14.4 Net Rating. And Egypt arrive at 3–3 with positive underlying efficiency.

Six teams. Three games in Window 4. Very little margin for error.

Swipe ➡️ for my Group F scouting report: efficiency, team identity, strengths and the number I’m watching for every team.

Who has the strongest Window 4? 🏀

GROUP E | ROUND 2 SCOUTING REPORT 🏀

The records carry over. The competition gets tougher.

Cameroon, South Sudan, Guinea, Tunisia, Nigeria and Cape Verde enter Round 2 with very different identities — and very different questions to answer in Window 4.

I’ve gone beyond the standings to look at what the Round 1 numbers tell us about each team: efficiency, playing identity, key strengths and the areas that could ultimately shape qualification.

Cameroon lead the group at 5–1, but South Sudan and Guinea produced stronger underlying efficiency margins. Tunisia and Nigeria both bring disruptive defensive profiles, while Cape Verde’s efficient, connected offense makes them far more dangerous than their 3–3 record might suggest.

Now the margins get smaller — and ex*****on matters even more.

Swipe through for my Group E scouting report. 👉

Which team do you think has the strongest Window 4?

What actually won games in Round 1? 📊🏀

With the Second Round of the FIBA World Cup African Qualifiers about to begin, I went back through all 48 games from Round 1 to look beyond wins, losses and the traditional box score.

Some of the findings were particularly interesting.

Shooting efficiency was the clearest separator. Winning the eFG% battle predicted the winner in 92% of games.

But the numbers also challenged a few assumptions. Defensive success wasn't necessarily about generating steals and blocks. Playing faster didn't automatically lead to winning. And simply avoiding turnovers wasn't enough.

Across the three windows, the strongest indicators pointed towards something more fundamental:

Efficiency + ex*****on.

Create and make better shots.
Limit opponent efficiency.
Finish defensive possessions on the glass.
Move the ball without wasting possessions.

Now the question becomes whether those same trends hold as the competition gets tougher in Round 2 — and which teams are best equipped to reproduce them against stronger opposition.

Swipe through for the numbers behind winning in Round 1. 👉

What stands out most to you from the data?

Top 5 Performers | Round 1, Window 3 🏀

Looking beyond the box score. As a coach, I value efficiency, decision-making, defensive impact and winning—not just points.

These rankings combine advanced analytics with each player's contribution to their team's performance throughout the window.

I've also included four Honourable Mentions who were right in the conversation but narrowly missed the Top 5, plus a glossary explaining the advanced metrics used.

Swipe through for the analysis and let me know who you'd have in your Top 5. 👇